Balata and the Balata Industry. 185 
timber, or in clearing for cultivation. In that portion 
containing bullet-tree wood, the trees have practically 
all been bled in past years, and it is only by felling that 
any balata can now be obtained. No grants have been 
issued by Government for the last two years ; so that 
any lawful trade in balata may be said to have vir- 
tually ceased. I shall describe further on, the damage 
that has been done to the Crown lands by the depreda- 
tions of collectors, when it will be seen that it is 
desirable, in the interest of the colony, till effective 
rules are devised for the protection of the forest and the 
preservation of this valuable wood, the trade should 
be discontinued. 
The balata collectors employed by the grant-holders 
are generally, as I have before mentioned, not the 
true river residents. The majority of them come either 
from New Amsterdam, its neighbourhood, or from New 
Forest and other places near the mouth of the river. In 
some cases they are engaged by the grant-holder in 
town, and in others by the agent who resides on the 
grant. As in wood-cutting, they sign an agreement 
to work on the grant for a definite period, usually three 
months. They reside on the grant with the agent, 
who supplies them with provisions, at a very consider- 
able advance over town prices, for which they pay, 
as may be convenient, with balata or money. Balata 
collecting is a system of piece work, the collectors 
being paid by the gallon for the milk they collect. They 
leave the settlement about 6 a.m., and reach the col- 
lecting ground in from one to three hours, the time 
depending, of course, on its distance aback, as day 
by day it recedes. They then tap the trees and collect 
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